The Morgellons Forum Phenomenon
I’m going to make some more enemies today but if this post helps only a few then to me it’s all worth it. By no means do I mean to belittle or mock anyone. I am commenting more on the “forum phenomenon” itself and not the actual individual people involved, many whom I respect.
I’ve been watching a thread over on LymeBusters for quite some time now, it started out with such potential but has denigrated into a smattering of techno mumbo-jumbo simply copied out of all kinds of scientific/medical articles that serve to leave the reader bewildered and full of all kinds of contradictory and sometimes just bad information.
The title of the thread is “Pathogenic Candida Albicans- CAUSE” and it can be found HERE. It’s now over 10 pages long. The topic is great, Candida, it’s very common in people and can cause most of if not all of our symptoms, including skin crawling, so the original posting I thought was a great start.
Before I begin talking about this post let’s review something I posted quite a while ago …
The “Skin Crawling Family Tree”
All of the groups above suffer from Skin Crawling Sensations and the feeling of Bugs Crawling Under the Skin. What if there was a common link between all of these groups? That is what this post is all about, I believe there is a common link, and that link is Acetaldehyde.
Meth Users
If you have been following my blog then you know how I have connected Morgellons to Toluene. If you haven’t read the previous posts click on the All Posts page and catch up, it should prove well worth your effort. In my Mr. Morgellons meet Mr. Meth, Your Distant Cousin I documented that Toluene is used in Meth production and they experience severe bug crawling sensations known as “Meth Bugs” or “Crank Bugs”. We know that Toluene breaks down into Acetaldehyde.
Cocaine Users
It turns out Cocaine users can also experience bug crawling sensations. From the article Cocaine and the Destruction of the Rainforests there is a quote
Annually, according to Peruvian forest engineer Marc J. Dourojeanni, coca growers dump 15 million gallons of kerosene, 8 million gallons of sulphuric acid, 1.6 million gallons of acetone, 1.6 million gallons of the solvent toluene, 16,000 tons of lime and 3,200 tons of carbide into the valley’s watershed.
For more on Cocaine and how it’s made see this DOCUMENT. We know that Toluene breaks down into Acetaldehyde.
Candida Sufferers
Acetaldehyde is the main waste product when Candida die-off occurs. For an interesting article see The Candida/Aldehyde detox pathway and the Molybdenum Connection for more information. The damage that Acetaldehyde causes to the body is tremendous and behind many other common diseases. Also, another good article is Candida Albicans and Acetaldehyde Toxin from which you will find this quote.
These effects of acetylaldehyde are multiplied many times over when candida die off occurs
Skin crawling sensations are common compliant for Candida sufferers. Also, this amazing quote:
The primary detoxification mechanism for scavenging unmetabolized acetaldehyde is sulfur-containing antioxidants [see Figure A]. The two most important are cysteine, a conditionally essential amino acid, and glutathione, a cysteine-containing tripeptide (a three-amino-acid polymer) [see Figure B]. Cysteine and glutathione are active against acetaldehyde (and formaldehyde) because they contain a reduced (unoxidized) form of sulfur called a sulfhydryl group, which contains a sulfur atom bonded to a hydrogen atom (abreviated SH).
Sulfhydryl groups interact with aldehydes to render tham incapable of forming cross links. This “mops up” or scavenges any stray acetaldehyde that is not properly metabolized into acetate (acetic acid) [see Figure A]. Although this is a powerful aldehyde detoxification mechanism, it is easily overwhelmed by the relatively large amounts of alcohol that are typically consumed with alcoholic beverages as compared to the amounts of alcohol and acetaldehyde that are produced through normal metabolism. Fortunately, sulfhydryl antioxidants can easily be fortified through dietary supplementation.
In one experiment with rodents [Sprince et al., 1974], a LD-90 dose of acetaldehyde (the dose that would normally kill 90% of the animals) was completely blocked by pretreatment of the animals with cysteine and vitamins B-1 and C. In other words, none of the cysteine-treated animals succumbed to the lethal dose of acetaldehyde! N-Acetylcysteine (NAC) protected almost as well as cysteine.
In another rodent experiment [Busnel & Lehman, 1980], alcohol’s ability to inhibit swimming after the alcohol had been completely metabolized was blocked by vitamin C. What this and the previous study suggests is that the pharmacologic and toxic effect of alcohol are different. The pharmacological effect (i.e., intoxication or drunkenness) is not inhibited by vitamin C or cysteine, but the toxic effect (e.g., the hangover, nervous irritability, swimming difficulty) is inhibited. This suggests that, with alcohol, you can “have your cake and eat it too.”
If that doesn’t sound exactly what we are going through with Morgellons I don’t know what does, notice how sulfur works so well.
Alcoholics going through DT’s
If you do some searching you will see that some alcoholics go through DTs so bad they experience the sensation of bugs crawling under their skin. It is my suggestion that this occurs when the massive Candida colonies they are maintaining go through die off 3 to 5 days after the alcohol flow is stopped. See Living with Alcohol for it’s link to Acetaldehyde.
Morgellons Sufferers
Like I have stated in previous blog posts many Morgellons patients have found high Toluene levels in their blood work and its metabolites such as Hippuric acid are found as well. Toluene will also biodegrade down the Benzoate path thus our glass crystals also (covered in another post). Much more can be said here. Of course, as this breaks down into the Acetaldehyde path and we suffer skin crawling just as the Candida sufferer does, it’s not the fungus in our case, it’s the Acetaldehyde being biodegraded from the Toluene in our bodies. I believe that Acetaldehyde causes the skin crawling sensation and not the actual fungus.
Formaldehyde (Tiny insects crawling over the eyes and nose?)
Let’s talk about a close cousin of Acetaldehyde and that is Formaldehyde. There is an amazing research paper out there on this, take a look at this quote:
Skin reactions: …chemical can be both irritating and allergy-causing…(EPA). A slight sensation of tiny insects crawling over the eyes, nose and pharynx (formication) is felt at 2-3 ppm. (Zurlo N, via OSH, NZ.) Contact with the vapour or solution causes skin to become white, rough, hard and anaesthetic due to superficial coagulation necrosis. With long exposure, dermatitis and hypersensitivity frequently result. Prolonged exposure may also cause cracking of skin and ulceration, especially around the fingernails.
I wont bother to post all the links but I could find a thousand posts from Morgellons sufferers stating that they are sure they have bugs or worms crawling all over and in their eyes and around there nose, it’s a very, very common symptom. I too have felt that sensation on my eyes, like a bunch of mites crawling across the surface. Depending on what is laying around in our body I believe that Formaldehyde is often times created internally as well as Acetaldehyde.
Okay, now back to the LymeBuster’s thread. It was my original research (re-posted above) that keyed me into NAC (N-acetyl cysteine) because of it’s ability to bind to and eliminate acetaldehyde. Of course, NAC has so many other wonderful benefits but we’re not going there on this post.
PLEASE CLICK ON THIS MAP, SCROLL TO THE BOTTOM AND SEE WHAT TOLUENE EVENTUALLY BREAKS DOWN INTO, THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT IF YOU WANT TO LEARN ==> HERE
Yes !! Toluene breaks down into Acetaldehyde, so, indeed, the Skin Crawling Family Tree still today makes a lot of sense doesn’t it?
Now, what kills me is to see some people on the LymeBusters thread posting that NAC will encourage Candida growth, the next thing you see is folks saying, oh, I’ll stop taking it. Well, to each his own but NAC has been key to my recovery. NAC is not a “real” contributor to Candida.
So what’s my point? The point is forums are not a great way to find real helpful information regarding this disease. Posts often contain a ton of information, much of it unrelated, simply copied into a thread as if it has some relevance forming a giant maze of barely related information most of which the reader cannot even understand. If you think you have a Candida problem why not do something about it? Sitting there posting on threads all day is not going to make you healthy. Indeed, I say it will actually do the contrary. It’s an addictive problem and it doesn’t just go on at LymeBusters, it’s happening everywhere that there are Morgellons forums. This addiction is actually ruining the lives of some sufferers, I know this to be the case.
Get off the damn forums and go for a bike ride, think about what your experiencing and throw out the unreliable feelings, rationalize what might be happening to you discarding the spectacular theories. Yes, it feels like bugs are crawling all over you doesn’t it? But can you find any? No, you really can’t. Well, then maybe you need to take a step back and think perhaps it’s not bugs? What else can it be? What else can cause these kinds of symptoms? Is there any common thread between others that suffer these symptoms? And if is there any common supplement that is safe that targets these symptoms I can then test and see if it relieves or improves my symptoms.
That is how you find your way out of this mess, not riding the forum waves to freedom. I’m so glad I swore off forums, I catch myself wanting to jump in and just shout at people sometimes …
“Do you want out of this mess or do you want to keep Googling more meaningless scientific articles?”
If you’re addicted to forums, stop surfing them and I mean today. They might seem like a good means of support but the stuff you read on most of them is not worth the cost to your psyche. Ask yourself honestly, do you feel better, more positive, and hopeful after surfing Morgellons forums?
There is a reason I called my blog Mundane. I know I’m going to take heat for this post and probably some of it is deserved. Forums aren’t all bad and I am definitely not saying this blog is the ultimate source of truth either, hardly so. However, I had to stop and unlearn all the garbage I had absorbed through various forums I was on before I could even begin to find my way out of this mess and attack Morgellons methodically. Every moment you are on a forum, or even this blog, is a moment you could be outside enjoying the day. In the end, you have to choose to live your life or completely wrap up your identify in being a Morgellons sufferer. Don’t be your disease, don’t let it grab a hold of you such that you surf Morgellons forums all day long.
Finally, and most importantly, don’t talk to your loved ones about Morgellons unless they are into it, it’s just a bad idea and no good will come of it. The less you think about Morgellons, especially bizarre stuff, the healthier you are going to become. I read an article on Natural News the other day where they tested a placebo and the placebo actually worked better than the current drug of choice, they concluded that hope was a better healer, think about it.
Morgellons - A Mundane Approach 
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